About

× Report the Abuse ceased operations as an NGO on 20 August 2017. The webpage and its contents are no longer updated. Thank you for your support, and we encourage all visitors to keep addressing sexual violence against humanitarian aid workers.

Sexual violence in humanitarian workplaces is not an emerging issue. On the contrary, it is a problem that has been quietly discussed for years.

Report the Abuse grew out of a call to action that became evident after Megan Nobert, our Founder, spoke publically about her own experience with sexual violence while working as a humanitarian in South Sudan. While GBV professionals, acting as counsellors or providing informal support to colleagues, have long known that sexual violence was happening within organisations, this knowledge rarely received the attention it deserved.

Our Founder’s public pronouncement was echoed by other humanitarian aid workers around the world, aware of sexual violence incidents being experienced in the course of their work – as survivors and concerned peers. This strength of voices forms the foundation upon which Report the Abuse was founded.

Our Founder’s public disclosure, alongside information about the sexual abuse of Kayla Mueller in captivity and scandals within the UN and other agencies, have forced humanitarian organisations to acknowledge that sexual violence happens in their workplaces. It has started conversations at all levels of humanitarian action – from the UN Secretary-General’s office to the most remote field site. It has resulted in discussions about how sexual violence can cause vicarious trauma to colleagues of survivors, affecting the larger working environment. The July 2016 attack on the Terrain Hotel in Juba further underscored the need to address the issue urgently.

Report the Abuse focused on the following three objectives in the course of its work:

1. Advocate for a global agenda to end sexual violence against humanitarian workers;

2. Develop and promote survivor-centred organisational policies and mechanisms that tackle sexual violence and stigma against humanitarian workers; and

3. Become a trusted knowledge sharing hub for humanitarian survivors of sexual violence.

What is Sexual Violence ?

``Sexual violence includes, at least, rape/attempted rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Sexual violence is ‘any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic a person’s sexuality, using coercion, threats of harm or physical force, by any person regardless or relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.’ Sexual violence takes many forms, including rape, sexual slavery and/or trafficking, forced pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and/or abuse, and forced abortion.``